


Gold-Gilded Coral

by Kymopoleia



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Human AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-02
Updated: 2015-06-02
Packaged: 2018-04-02 13:16:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4061413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kymopoleia/pseuds/Kymopoleia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ever since Percy Jackson's mother died, he's been in the care of his father. Whether that's a good thing or not has yet to be decided.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gold-Gilded Coral

Percy stands in a suit that costs more than his last hospital visit (the one where he broke his leg and had to have six-hour surgery), holding a glass of champagne, watching the people milling around. He mumbles something rude about rich people into the rim of his glass as he takes a sip. He knows, deep down, that his dad is one of them, and therefore, _he_ is one of them, but it's weird and he doesn't like that train of thought.

The only reason he's here is because it's at the manor his dad owns. And the manor his dad owns is cool.

There's pearls everywhere. The buttons on his suit are pearl. He's wearing some on a length of leather under the sleeve of his pale green button down. The chandelier in the middle of the room, hanging just above where the second floor's railing sits, is about half pearl and half glass. Percy is half convinced that if he wanted, he could get a pearl bust of himself (or something, he's not actually sure how pearls work).

His favorite waiter comes by him again, the same one that is literally wearing a knitted rasta cap, and he grabs something small and solid to throw into his mouth. The guy- he looks close ish to Percy's age, but around these parts, that could mean everything and it could mean nothing- looks at him weirdly. "Dude," he mumbles. "Go join the party. Seriously. Leaning against a pillar and looking bitchy won't get you anywhere in this crowd."

Percy is pretty sure his face is the epitome of "The fuck, man?", but he doesn't actually say that. Or anything.

"Want me to spell it out for you?" He asks. "Fucking, ugh. Alright. You can make yourself and your dad money, just by being social. You can get laid, just by being social. People that get played off as prudes half the time can actually have personalities. I'm not coming by this pillar again bro, you've been here since you realized people were actually coming. Go get yourself a piece of ass, or something, or I swear, I will find you at the next party and force you to."

Percy pales. He hasn't had anybody talk to him like that since- since his mom died and his dad got custody of him.

"Even if I do, can you yell at me next time?" He asks.

Rasta cap nods. "My name is Grover, and I can totally yell at you. A lot. Every time you ignore opportunities."

Percy nods, and takes one more piece tentatively before he steps away from the pillar. He stretches, and looks back at Grover, who nods.

Percy takes a sip of his champagne as he moves around the pillar, and it's only a minute or so before a brunette grabs his arm. She's giggly, and her hair is choppy and has braids through it, and he sees feathers (and has no idea how genuine they are). She has a guy on her arm who is almost taller than her, hair a barely tamed mass of curls. She's got dark skin, and he isn't exactly light either, and his brown suit has smears of black on it at random intervals, and Percy swears he sees a pair of pliers poking out of his pockets. The girl is wearing a blue dress that he's pretty sure doesn't fit her very well, if the way the strap slipping down her shoulder is any indication. Besides, he knows it doesn't fit her. Knows her.

"Piper?" He asks, a smile finding its way into his face. "Leo."

"We have been looking for you all night!" Piper rolls her eyes and untangles their arms to smack his ass. "That's for inviting us, only to forget we were coming."

"I got freaked out by all them." He waves at the masses.

"You, Percy damn Jackson, got freaked by some people? Dude, you're their fucking darling. Their baby. Their baby that they want to fu-"

Piper's hand magically finds its way to Leo's mouth. "Their baby that they want to interact with. Your dad has talked to us like, three times, just trying to look for you. Seriously. And I'm punch drunk."

"Punch drunk as in she's drunk and she wants to punch me." Leo rolls his eyes as he pushes her hand away. "Like, dios mio, Pipes, keep your hands to yourself."

She laughed. "Getting drunk as fuck on rich ass champagne!" She replies in a sing-song voice. "You know I'm never able to do this. Like, fucking ever." She leans her head on Percy's shoulder.

He kisses her forehead. "Just please don't pull anything, I don't want you kicked out or something for being a cutie with a K."

She pulls back to look at him. "They will never know it was me, Percy. Seriously. But if you insist, I'll stick to these." She opens her purse to show off the silver napkin-holders.

Percy closes her purse. "Pipes, please, tell, don't show. Plausible deniability, you know the routine."

Piper rolled her eyes at him. "You know I'm just gonna tell you as soon as I leave."

"And by then you will be off the premises and I will not be under any obligation to tell my father or security or staff what you are doing."

Leo squeezes Piper's arm, and she gives him a look. A rude look. And a rude gesture.

Percy laughs and kisses her head. "Now, I've been threatened by Rasta Cap, aka Grover, to socialize, and he is looking at me like that bust of Medusa that I've snapchatted you two about. The one in my Dad's bff's house. Yeah, best frenemy forever. That guy." He shudders.

Piper makes an "ooh" sound. "The one with the hot Grace kids? The ones who I want to get between?"

Percy looks at her. "You don't want to do that, Pipes. They go hard. Now, get really drunk and fuck up a bathroom with someone whose name you pretend not to know- and Leo don't you dare use those pliers. I'm serious, bro." He disentangles himself from them, and smiles at them as he walks further into the mass.

Percy knows he would much rather stick to what- and _who_ he knows, but that doesn't seem like it will placate Grover, and he has to somehow work his way to his father, in the center of the room, to make his dad aware that he has not, in fact, run off. Never mind that he was considering it in the first place.

The first few people on the fringe of the mass ignore him, but then he bumps into someone new, and has to bite his lip to keep the curse in. Street curses and rich people curses do not mix.

It's a guy he's never met before, and that's saying nothing at all. He's dark, like in every way but his skin tone, which is a pale olive. Percy looks him over as quickly as he can, taking in the simple black and gray suit, the chunky skull ring on his left hand, the messy black hair, the dark brown eyes. He's attractive, and Percy smiles down at him. He's taller by a bit more than a few inches.

"You're Poseidon's kid," the guy says, and Percy nods. "You need to get to the middle of the room before he _eviscerates_ you." The boy hisses.

Percy holds up his hands. "Whoa, whoa, what?"

"He threw the gala for you, you stupid little-" The guy puts a hand on the bridge of his nose. "Get to the center of the room and hang prettily on your father's arm, or so help me, I will- I don't know what I'm going to do but I will do something."

Percy swallows and moves away from attractive-and-angry, heading for his dad. He doesn't know anyone here well enough to use them as a shield (his dad has only been in his life for the past year, Piper and Leo are the only ones he kept), and he doesn't think he's ready. He doesn't think he ever will be.

He bumps into more people, but he doesn't have any more short conversations. His dad happens to be in the very center of the room, talking to the Grace sibling's father. Percy doesn't think he has a last name, and he isn't sure if his name is Zeus or Jupiter, because he goes by both, depending on the situation. 

Poseidon doesn't immediately see Percy, but when he does, he wraps an arm around his son's shoulders, beaming at Zeus (he seems Zeus-y right now).

"Percy! Nice of you to join me." He says, and Percy doesn't get where attractive-and-angry got the idea that his dad was angry. Maybe he projected his anger on everyone else.

Percy smiles and winds an arm around his dad, and then spends the rest of the conversation nodding and "mhm"ing. He doesn't care about Zeus' company, nor Poseidon's, nor the other guy- Hades. The three seem to be tight, best friends or something. Percy can't help but think of himself, Piper, and Leo. He doesn't think them being heads of separate companies would work, Piper in charge of people never ended well for the people. Maybe the three of them. Piper could be like human resources, Leo in charge of anything physical, and Percy the head. He only thinks he would be good at that because heads get all the pressure, and he can handle it. As long as they can do their jobs.

"And Percy is going to go to college next semester." He hears Poseidon say, and he refocuses. Then does a double take.

"Um, dad?" Percy mumbles. "I am?"

"You need a business degree, son."

Percy blinks. Then blinks again. "What for?"

"For when I retire and you take over the company."

"But- but what about Triton?" Percy's eyebrows furrow. "He can do it-"

"Triton is going to be a general in the navy, do you seriously want to ask him to give that up?"

They are lucky there are no people talking at them around that moment.

"You didn't even ask me."

"I shouldn't have to. I'm your father."

"The father who wasn't in my life until a _year_ ago!" Percy hisses.

"Your mother did not let me." Poseidon's teeth are clenched.

"I don't care! You could have done something- contacted me, something!"

Poseidon is about to say something, when a hand appears on Percy's arm and drags him away.

He is happy to leave, but the last squeeze of his father's hand is borderline painful. It's filled with the promise of continuing the argument.

He looks back to see who was dragging him, and he sees a new friend, who he hadn't known was going to be there. 

"Rachel?" He asks, and she glances over her shoulder to grin at him.

"Thanks." He smiles back.

She leads him all the way across the dance floor to the stairs, then up them to the second floor balconies. There's barely anyone up there, just a couple making out against the wall on the opposite side of the room, and a blonde leaning on the rail with a plate of food balanced precariously on the rail.

"Octavian." Percy looks between the cousins, then reaches to snag a cube of cheese from the plate. "You have me up here because?"

"Because you're being antisocial and you were arguing with your dad." Rachel leans on the rail on Percy's other side, putting him between the pair. "Because we want to talk to you."

Percy looks at the champagne flute still in his hand, then tips his head back to drain it. "What about?"

"Tavy's dad is doing a photo shoot and he wants you. It was actually really creepy-"

"It was not." Octavian rolls his eyes. "He thinks Percy has a very photogenic face and would cost less to photoshop. The only problem with him is his _personality_."

Percy smiles at Octavian and lays a hand on his arm. "It's no worse than yours."

Octavian smiles at him, though it's clear the smile is incredibly fake. "Yes, because your opinion matters oh-so-much to me."

"You know it does." Percy replies. 

"Whatever. Stop bitching at each other." Rachel interrupts and reaches around Percy to grab a fruit-cheese kabob. "Point is, we'll text you the details on the photo shoot soon. And the details on the paycheck."

Percy looks over at her. "Paycheck?"

She nods as if it's obvious. "A photoshoot is a job, and people usually get paid for those."

He hums. "Weird. I was thinking this was just a... A favor? I don't know."

Octavian laughs. "Favors are things like covering up mishaps or lying to the press. Things like this? Not favors."

Percy glances at him. "Well, I am new to this."

"Don't remind me." Octavian finishes his glass of champagne. 

"You should get back downstairs." Rachel touches Percy's arm. "Be sociable. You're new and young and the press knows nothing about you. You have a clean slate. One day you'll know how valuable that is."

Percy hugs her with one arm and grabs another cube of cheese from Octavian's plate before descending the stairs. 

He sees his father in the middle of the crowd, still surrounded by socialites and business partners. He sees the Grace siblings hovering near where Piper and Leo are stirring up trouble, and he sees attractive-and-angry standing next to Bianca and the girl who he thinks is named Hazel. Everyone is separating into little groups of friends or family, and Percy is left at the base of the stairs, looking around hopefully for someone to talk to who isn't Grover. He liked being yelled at the first time, but he isn't so sure he'd appreciate it for a second time tonight. 

The girl who might be named Hazel leaves her group and comes over to Percy, a glass of champagne in one hand and a gold clutch in the other. Well, everything about her is golden. Her frizzy mass of hair, her headband, her eyes, her hoop earrings, her skin, her modest floor-length dress, her bracelets. She's crazy cute, if a bit young, and she doesn't seem like the type of person to fit in with such a cutthroat crowd. 

"Hello?" He asks, smiling at her. 

"Hey." She smiles back. "I was wondering if you wouldn't mind joining me and my cousins? We've been wanting to talk to you all night but you've come off as unapproachable."

Percy blinks at her, then nods. He takes a new glass of champagne from someone who is not Grover and follows her over to attractive-and-angry and Bianca. Which is incredibly surprising, because they look nothing like Hazel. 

Percy smiles at them and Bianca offers a hand. "Glad to see you again." She says, but it doesn't entirely feel honest. She has the same coloring as attractive-and-angry, except her dress is silvery and she has a familiar moon-shaped broach on her left breast. She has the same type of chunky dark rings as her brother, but with different symbols on them, and Percy gets a good look at those rings when he lifts her hand up to his mouth to kiss it the way he'd seen his father do so many times before. 

Then he regrets it, because she looks at him weirdly and Hazel starts laughing, touching his shoulder with the bottom of the champagne glass.

"Stop that," she says. "You look just like any other playboy in this room when you do that. It isn't a good look on you."

Blushing, Percy lets go of Bianca's hand. "Sorry. Still new to everything."

Bianca nods. "I understand, just try not to do it to girls you don't know. You look good enough to eat when you do, and you don't want to deal with Artemis when she's upset." She raises a hand to her broach, and Percy remembers where he knew it from. 

"Oh! Now I remember that, that's a symbol of- ooooh. Okay." He laughs, reaching up to rub his neck. "I knew it looked familiar. Sorry, my dad tried to teach me the symbols of all his business partners, but there are a lot and most of them are pretty hard to recognize."

She glances at her brother. "If you have trouble recognizing them, I'm sure Nico can help you. He's good at all the business stuff."

Attractive-and-angry, _Nico_ , rolls his eyes. "Only because I have to, Bi. I don't exactly see you volunteering to take the company."

"Yeah, because I have other things that I want to do. Things that are actually important and worth my time." She glances at Hazel. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go to the restroom."

Hazel nods, and gestures for her cousin to go, and Bianca blinks before giving her an exasperated look and walking off alone.

Percy laughs again. "I think she wanted you to go with her so she could gossip with you."

Hazel looks at him, then glances at where Bianca had disappeared. "Oh. That makes sense. Oh well." She says sarcastically. 

"Hazel, be nice." Nico chastises. "You can't be rude to her forever."

"Yes I can." She says stubbornly, then glances at Percy. "Sorry, family drama. You wouldn't have heard about it, we're trying to keep it on the down low, if you don't mind?"

He shakes his head. "I don't mind, it's not my story to tell."

Hazel nods. "Good. So, Nico and I were the ones who actually wanted to talk to you. Nico wanted to apologize for being rude-"

"No I didn't, Hazel." He interrupts. 

"And I wanted to let you know how sorry I am about your mom. I didn't know her, but my dad met her a few times and he thought that she was a very wonderful person."

Percy sipped his champagne. "Thank you." He nods. "I, um, not many people have talked about her. I miss her."

She nodded sympathetically. Nico looked away. 

"My mother died too, and so did Nico's. Hey, do you want my number? Anytime you need to talk, I'll be there. Okay?" She smiles, and Percy nods, handing her his phone so that she could put her number in. 

"Okay." Percy replies when she hands the phone back to him, two contacts entered. There's a note on the second, saying to text her before that number. He takes that it's Nico's number and nods.


End file.
